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by technicallyGone



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Adoptive Parents - Freeform, M/M, Running Away, dadvid, jasper didn't die au, mentions of Harrison's disappeared brother, mentions of max's parents being shitty, not in the way you'd expect?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-01-22 06:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 9,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12475880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/technicallyGone/pseuds/technicallyGone
Summary: Sometimes, things go exactly the way you want them to.Max is out of Camp Camp, he's never got to deal with the shitty campers or the shitty counselors or the shitty food there ever again.(Sometimes, things go wrong. Horribly fucking wrong and you can't fix it.)(His family's falling apart, his parents love his younger sister more than they ever loved him, and Max is tired. Six years after he left Camp Camp for the last time, Max runs away and finds more than what he expected.)





	1. Chapter 1

Sometimes, things go exactly the way you want them to.

The campers all piled on the bus at the end of camp, the complete opposite of the trip they all made coming here, whenever it is they arrived. David and Gwen are there, and while having all the campers on a bus would usually need some riot control, things are calm. Not quiet, as everyone’s saying their goodbyes and exchanging numbers and the like, but there’s no mischief to be had today.

No one can look the quartermaster in the eyes as they get off.

Most people’s parents are there already. Nurf’s mom is missing the orange jumpsuit she was wearing for parent’s day, and an ankle bracelet replaces the cuffs she was in. There’s an officer with her still, but now Nurf can actually get a hug back when he wraps her arms around her. Nerris’ parents are standing together, and while some of them almost don’t recognize her father without his DnD attire, the way he talks back at her assures everyone this isn’t some doppleganger. 

Neil’s dad is standing with Nikki’s mom, and while Carl at least has the decency to look a little bashful, Candy is already introducing Nikki to her boyfriend. Max cracks a smile at the way Nikki’s smiling and the groan Neil gives. They’ve both made him swear too keep in contact, and Max doesn’t think that’ll be a problem. He doesn’t want to lose touch with his only friends just because summer’s over.

Ered’s dads wait by a sleek black car, though both are in more casual attire than the suits they’d all seem them in before. Dolph’s dad is waiting, and Dolph gives Gwen and David one last goodbye wave before marching over. 

The only ones left are Max, Preston, Harrison and Space kid. Preston explains that his grandmother is getting a ride from a friend to come pick him up, and he knew she’d be late. Well, that’s the shortened version, anyways. Max didn’t know anyone but David could stretch out something for so damn long.

Gwen stayed with them for the hour it took to the Goodplays to be on their way before heading back to camp to help quartermaster start cleaning up and tearing down. David promised to ring her when the rest of the campers were gone.

One hour later, and all their parents were called. The only ones to actually pick up were Max’s, surprisingly enough. David has a sour look on his face as he came back out, something that didn’t sit well with any of the three. Space kid’s uncle came to pick him up, though, and he thanked David for contacting him. Max was pretty sure he heard an apology for knocking the other out over a month ago somewhere in there, but he’s too tired to care. 

At last, the shitty red sedan comes. Max’s parents don’t get out, just wave to him. It’s weird, such an informal goodbye to the last three months of his life, but he gives Harrison and David a wave over his shoulder before he gets in.

He didn’t know that’d be the last time he saw the camp.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes, things go wrong. Horribly fucking wrong and you can’t fix it.

That’s Max’s life. Just, the entirety of it. He made the mistake of letting his parents know that he didn’t absolutely hate every single second he spent at that camp. Suddenly, going back was privilege held over his head. If he was good, he could go back next summer. If he acted well, he could go back. If he did good in school, if he didn’t get into fights, if he just /went upstairs and did something, Jesus Christ, Maxwell!/. 

If he didn’t complain, if he just stayed out of their hair for one fucking day, if he could make himself something to eat, don’t you know how tired I am, how hard I work for this family?

Needless to say, Max didn’t see Camp Camp again that summer. Or the next. Or the next. And after that, well, he let the whole idea drop from his mind. 

Thirteen years old, and he still talked to Neil and Nikki. It was…weird, to say the least. They were friends because they went on adventures and did shit together. Just having them over text sucked. They became kind of like imaginary friends. He’s pretty sure that his parents didn’t believe he was actually texting them, but being on his phone meant he wasn’t bugging them, so it was fine.

Sometimes, when things got real bad at home, and he couldn’t make himself go to sleep over the yelling downstairs, he think if it’d been different. If he hadn’t pushed everyone away. Maybe he’d be at camp. Maybe no one would show up for parent’s day because his dad was already there all the time. Maybe he could have been a-

…he didn’t even know David’s last name. It hadn’t seemed important to a ten-year-old, but now he hates that he didn’t catch it. Maybe he could have contacted the other. Maybe he could have called and gotten take out of this shit hole. 

He refuses to ask Neil or Nikki because, honestly, he doesn’t know why they talk to him now. He won’t ask for shit from them when they’ve got their own lives to deal with. No one needs his shit, honestly.

Max is thirteen, and maybe he can tough it out. The announcement that his parents were going to be having another kid made his stomach drop. God, he hated it here, and while he didn’t have a lot to give in the empathy section, he couldn’t imagine another little bastard having to be reared up in this shit hole he called a home.

It was fine, though. Maybe he could actually help this kid out, show them the ropes of how to tiptoe around their parent’s issues, how to survive and maybe this kid wouldn’t end up as fucked as he was. 

He’s fourteen when she’s born. Madeline, the apple of his parent’s eye, the little girl who hung the sun and the moon and the stars. Their precious baby, and Max doesn’t give it long for this whole “new baby” thing to wear off.

The first year, they’re just excited to have another kid. They act like the perfect fucking family, and Max is the troubled son they just don’t know what to do with. Everything he’d learned, done to survive before now labels him as a problem child as his parents do a 180 with seemingly no warning. They’re home and they cook and they take such good care of Madeline. Max refuses to back down, though, because he knows at soon this whole façade will crumble and things will go back to normal.

The second year passes, and they really get into this parenting thing. Max is weirded out, but he doesn’t resent Madeline for it. She’s just a baby. Max figured he’d be watching her a lot with how much his parents went out, but they make sure someone’s always home with her. Max knows the girl’s never seen a babysitter in her damn life, while Max remembers the stories of how his first words were “mom”, directed at his aunt who watched him more than anyone else at that point.

They all go to family counseling to try and work out the root of Max’s issues, why he’s such a problem in their perfect little lives, and it hits him.

His parents weren’t awful to him because they didn’t want a kid.

His parents were awful because they didn’t want him. They treated Madeline like a queen, it was Max they didn’t like. He could take in stride the whole “we got together too young at too early an age and now we’re staying together to keep our reputation up”. That was the typical American marriage right there, getting hitched out of high school and popping out a brat before you knew how you were going to make your shitty salary last. Max knew he was a product of that and his parents weren’t bad people, they just weren’t parents. It was fine, he could deal.

Turns out, though, they were fucking perfect. They were the perfect fucking adults who were raising the perfect fucking child. It was Max that’d been the problem.

He checked his cell phone for the first few hours after he ran away. He figured they hadn’t noticed he never came home from school. They generally didn’t, but it’d been fine.

The next day, and still nothing. Sleeping at the bus station wasn’t a great amount of fun, but it wasn’t the worst. Then it was the airport the next night. Eventually, three days had rolled around and the only people who’d contacted him were Neil and Nikki, neither of which knew he was missing.

He’d thought they would have done something. Sure, it was the summer, no one was coming after them because their son wasn’t in school, so apparently they didn’t care. And hell, if they didn’t actually care that much, Max really couldn’t go back. He wouldn’t admit that he hadn’t though ahead that far, but he really, really hadn’t. 

He goes back to the bus station and hops on one, using the money from the job the family therapist insisted would be good for him. He’d quit a week ago, but as long as he stayed out of the house the same amount of time, no one really noticed.

It was summer, he had nearly three months until school started again, and Max was going to ride out this shit show as far as it’d get him.


	3. Chapter 3

It got him three hours away until mission “get as far away from here as possible” came to an abrupt stop.

That stop was Harrison.

He didn’t look a lot like he had six years ago, but the mannerisms hadn’t changed much. He spoke to someone else, and Max wouldn’t have noticed a damn thing if it hadn’t been for that stupid fucking phrase. “It’s magic! Ta-da!” with that slight lisp and the flourish of his hands.

“Harrison?”

The kid whipped around, and while his hair was still on the long side, he’d ditched the little top hat. He seemed confused, but once he realize who’d talked to him, he spoke back.

“Strange hobo man I’ve never me- …wait…wait, wait. Max?!”

“Yeah, how- wait, how do you even remember me?”

“Neil and Nikki talk about you every year! And I had to room with Neil last summer when Preston didn’t come. So, yeah. You guys text a lot really late at night. Thanks for that, by the way,” he said, dragging his friend over so they weren’t shouting at each other.

“You know I was directing the community theater’s rendition of Grease or I would have been there!”

“Wait…okay, no, you’re shitting me. Preston?”

Now that Max was looking, the person Harrison was talking to did look like the dramatic boy from camp. Only now, his hair was tied back, and he was missing the poofy sleeves and weird collar Max remembered pretty fucking vividly because who wouldn’t?

“The one and only!” the theater child said with a bow, causing Max to groan.

“If I see one more kid from camp here, I’m actually going to throw up. How many of you kept going to that shithole?”

“Well…Nikki and Neil and Neil and Nerris,” Harrison was saying, counting off the recurring campers on his fingers and- yep, he was still wearing gloves. “Preston, until last year. And me, but I sort of had to.”

“Neil and Neil?”

“Space kid.”

“Right. So how long have you lived right over here?”

“Quite some time!” Preston said, and they talked until Max missed his bus. And the next. And the next.

It was dark when they finally all realized what time it was, looking around. They’d gone into a little fast food place to chat, and it’d taken them all a while to realize that things had gone by quicker than expected. Max didn’t really get along with either of the boys before, but six years was apparently a lot to catch up on when you vaguely knew one another through a mutual friend. 

“Oh wow, sorry Max. I don’t know if you were here to do anything, but everything’s mostly closed by now,” Harrison said when they were finally shooed away from the establishment. 

“No, it’s fine. I…wasn’t really here to do anything. I needed to get away from home and I’m…not sure if I’m welcomed back?”

Harrison winced in sympathy, but Preston just nodded.

“I’d offer you a place to stay, but we really don’t have much room!” Preston said as they went to part ways, looking at the other.

“My house is a bit bigger, if you’d want to crash there for tonight,” Harrison said. “You can figure out what to do later, then.”

Max was going to turn him down, but the thought of sleeping on an actual bed was a really nice one, and Max was tired of laying curled around his backpack to make sure no one took it. Plus, a shower? Heaven.

“Sure. Thanks and all that shit.”

“No problem!” 

It was Preston who drove them from the fast food joint to Harrison’s house in a car that definitely belong to his grandmother and had a whole bunch of bumper stickers about her grandchild. And while the car was a train wreck, Max didn’t know what to say about the house. Harrison was different, sure, but this was taking it to new fucking levels. The place was a dark green, with a light brown trimming. Contrasting the nice colors were the tackiest bright orange and pink flamingos in the front yard, all wearing little Hawaiian print shirts. There were gnomes spread around and a really nicely kept patch of flowers in front.

Harrison pressed a kiss to Preston’s cheek as they got out, and Max guess that explained why the two were hanging out. He followed Harrison inside, hesitating in the doorway as the other walked right in.

“I’m home!” Harrison called out, shrugging off the jacket he’d been wearing and hanging it up by the front door. “And I brought a friend!”

There was some commotion before someone stuck their head out of what Max guessed was the kitchen.

“Hey, nice to meet you.”

He gave a wave, dishcloth in hand, before disappearing again. Max wasn’t sure what was wrong with this picture, but there was something fucking off about it. The guy who stuck his head out didn’t look old enough to be Harrison’s dad.

“I didn’t know you had a brother?” Max ventured. 

Harrison winced, looking down.

“I do! He’s just…been gone for a while. I’m, uh, still working on reappearing,” Harrison said, and the knowledge came crashing back to Max.

That was right, fuck. He remembered Harrison’s parents jumping away from him at parent’s day and-

And Harrison’s parents were some of the most boring, average people imaginable. They had seemed infinitely old to Max at that point, but he was sure they weren’t young. The man who’d stuck his head out, he didn’t match even the vague idea Max had of Harrison’s dad. This man had a hair color lighter than Harrison’s. Their faces were different, they didn’t look related at all. And the neon shirt with weird squiggle patterns wasn’t something he remembered, and he was sure it would have stuck out.

“So, uh, is your mom around?”

Harrison looked at the other confused, and Max felt like he was missing something big.

“Didn’t Neil tell you? I-“

“Harrison! You’re home!”

Max knew that voice. Max had that fucking sunny voice engrained in his memory, the closest thing he’d ever had to a dad and he felt shocked as he stood there, the familiar red-haired man coming down the stairs. 

“You remember my other dad, Max,” Harrison finally said, gesturing to him.

David looked confused for a hot second, but as soon as he caught sight of the friend his son had brought home and put two and two together, he looked just as shocked as the teen.

“…what the fuck? How?!”

“Oh, uh. My parents never really came to get me after camp that year you were there,” Harrison said, shying away. “And David and Jasper were already registered foster parents, so. I got placed with them, and I sort of never left?”

Looking around now, the evidence was everywhere. The pictures were the biggest give away, various ones of Harrison hanging up, with other family pictures strewn about. It was a nice touch, personal even though he’d just gotten in the front door.

“I’m glad to see you’re doing okay,” David finally ventured to say, and Max wanted to scream. 

Some small, selfish part of him knows this could have been him. He could have gotten out of that hell hole way earlier, he could have been here and it could be his pictures everywhere and it could be him with the family that wasn’t falling apart as soon as he was part of it and-

“I’m not.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Your parents did what?!”

Max shrugged, trying to act like it wasn’t a big deal. Jasper was having none of that, though. They’d eaten dinner and while David was kind enough to move the plates once they were done, they were all still sat there as Max started unloading the quick and dirty of his life. 

“I mean, they’re not bad people, I guess. Shitty parents, but they never hit me or anything. It’s fine.”

“It’s absolutely not fine!”

Jasper looked pissed and Max was…kind of happy about that? It was weird that he was apparently important enough to get pissed over. His parents weren’t great, but Max could never bring himself to call what he went through abuse.

Jasper could, though. Jasper used the word Max had been avoiding and labeled the situation clearly and he couldn’t help but be just a tiny bit relieved that he apparently wasn’t blowing this up out of proportion. 

David sat silently through most the story, giving Max a little nod and a small, sad smile when he look to him to see if he should keep going. Harrison was there and…well, Max kind of even liked that. This wasn’t an interrogation from two adults. This was just his friend’s family being concerned. He would swing with that.

Jasper finally excused himself to go take a walk. He couldn’t sit there and listen to any more about Max’s parents without cussing the people out, and the last thing Max probably needed was feeling like he had to defend his shitty parents to someone. 

“Thank you for telling us, Max,” David said, and the teen just shrugged.

“S’fine. You were the ones who had to listen and sit through it all…”

Harrison rolled his eyes at him, which made him want to punch the other but also kind of helped relax him some. This wasn’t some huge big deal. Well, it was. But it was still fine, and apparently no one thought of him any differently. There wasn’t the claustrophobic feeling of pity, just…sadness, yeah, and anger but mostly things just were how they were before. 

It was a lot of gooey, sappy emotions he didn’t want to deal with, so he didn’t. Instead, he got up when David said he’d gone off and find some blankets for Max tonight. Harrison had already offered to let him borrow some clothes if he wanted to take a shower, so he took him up on that now. 

Now, Harrison was a bit taller than Max, even after the growth spurt at the beginning of high school, so he had to pull the string on the sweatpants he was wearing pretty tight. The shirt fit, though, but it seemed to be an old Camp Camp shirt, if the bright yellow and words were anything to go by. 

“Thanks,” Max said when Harrison had given it to him, voice dripping with sarcasm. Harrison had just laughed, shooing him off to go get clean. 

He tossed the towel in the laundry basket before heading out, hoping that Harrison would be in the living room or something. No luck there, but Jasper was back, and he was talking to David.

Max knew he should have said something, but there was something odd about the moment. He’d seen Harrison and Preston be affectionate last night, though he hadn’t realized it was a romantic sort of thing until Harrison had kissed Preston while getting out of his car. But a lot of kids were sappy and love drunk. Go to any high school and you could catch kids playing tonsil hockey every time they got let out of classes to head to a new one. 

This was different, though. Jasper and David had been together for at least six years, at least as long as they’d had Harrison. But Jasper still stood close to David as he spoke, voice soft. His hand was resting on the other’s hip, but he didn’t move it. It was like how David’s hands were on the other’s shoulders, apparently touching just to touch. 

It wasn’t until they moved in closer to kiss that Max finally made some noise. It was weird seeing adults actually still in love, but even he didn’t want to see that shit. 

“Hey, so…where am I sleeping tonight?” he asked, watching as David whipped around quickly, face red while Jasper just seemed to go with it, tilting his head as he thought.

“The couch is all yours, but I think Harrison mentioned something about setting you up in his room? You can ask him about that- his is the first door on the left upstairs,” Jasper said. “And you can toss your dirty clothes in the hamper. I’ll just throw ‘em in with everything else.”

Max looked down at the bundle of clothing in his arms, turning to head back to the bathroom to do just that before he finally went upstairs. It was easy to find Harrison’s room, but mostly because the door was open and the walls inside were a bright red as he looked inside. Probably appropriately, it kind of reminded him of the curtains on a stage, something to be pulled back before the big performance.

While most might attribute that to Preston, Harrison was definitely a performer. 

Max knocked on the doorframe, peeking into the room. Harrison jumped, looking over at the other with wide eyes. He was sitting in front of what looked like a pile of papers and a…granola bar? Something in a wrapper. 

“Uh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt…whatever this is,” he said.

“Oh, no, you’re fine!” Harrison said, giving Max a smile that seemed somewhat forced. He draped a little handkerchief over the papers and food, moving a hand over it before grabbing it up again quickly, the things that had been under it gone now. “It was nothing! See?”

Max gave a small smile at the lame joke, but only because it seemed like Harrison was really pushing it for some reason.

“Still got it. So, Jasper told me to ask you about where I’m sleeping?”

“Oh, yeah! Well, both my dads get up pretty early and I figured you wouldn’t want to be woken up, so I figured you could just sleep in here? We have…a lot of sleeping bags. It’ll be like a sleep over.”

“Of course you do. That sounds fine with me, though. Anything to keep me out of the way of those two in the morning. Is Jasper as cheery as David is? Because I’m going to call bullshit. There’s no way there’s two people who actually like getting up at the asscrack of dawn.”

“No, I think my other dad just doesn’t like being in bed alone, so he gets up to,” Harrison said. 

Max didn’t reply, but he didn’t need to. Harrison ushered him out of the room so they could grab the sleeping back and extra blanket and pillow that’d been gotten out earlier. They hauled their findings back upstairs and set everything up afterwards, and it wasn’t long before both were laying down, exhausted by the day’s events. Max turned over for a while, trying to find sleep and failing miserably. He eventually spoke, feeling a lot like that one kid at a sleepover that regrets the sleep over half way through.

“Hey, Harrison?”

“Yeah Max?”

“What’s it like living here? With David and Jasper.”

There was silence for a while before Harrison shifted, finally speaking.

“It was kind of weird at first. Both of them try really hard, and my parent’s…didn’t. Well, not after I made my brother vanish. They’re really nice, though. I guess I’m lucky they took me in.”

“…I’m glad you have them. No offense, but from what I remembered, your parents were pretty shitty.”

Harrison let out a laugh that sounded more like a snort than anything else, but Max was glad he hadn’t accidentally crossed some line calling out Harrison’s parents.

“They’re not really my parents. My parents are asleep downstairs. They’re just more like…a sperm donor and incubator now. I mean, I don’t really hate them or anything. They were nice when I was a kid. I’m not mad they gave me up or anything, because now I get to live here. I just- I wish they would have stayed the way they were. But they didn’t, and that’s not really on me.”

The last part sounded more like Harrison was talking to himself, an affirmation instead of a statement, but Max wasn’t about to call him out on it. He just nodded, and they kept up the quiet chatter until eventually the words turned into light snores as both nodded off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was supposed to be short


	5. Chapter 5

Max woke up to texts from both Nikki and Neil. They talked often, and he guessed after kind of ignoring them the last few days they’d decided to gang up on him. He’d say he hated when they did that, but he couldn’t actually be that pissed about it.

He sat up and stretched. The sleeping bag was pretty comfortable, especially with the extra blankets to cushion him. He scrolled through their messages, thinking on how to answer before he finally just pulled up their group texts and sent a picture of himself, still decked out in that old Camp Camp shirt, with a sleeping Harrison in the bed behind him.

“Remember this nerd?” was all he’d typed before sending it off.

His phone kept dinging in his pocket as he got up and made his way downstairs. He felt like the polite thing to do was probably wait until Harrison got up, but Max wasn’t really versed in the ways of sleep overs. Besides, it was just David here. Well, David and his husband, but Jasper seemed pretty cool. Max wouldn’t mind running into him.

He didn’t, though. David was the one in the kitchen. It was obvious he’d been up for hours already despite it only being nine in the morning, according to the clock on the stove. He was humming as he stirred something together, and it was such a fucking typical thing to do that Max almost forgot that the last six years had happened at all.

“Hey,” he said, making his presence known as he took a seat at the table, finally pulling out his phone again.

“Morning!” David said, and Max was surprised he wasn’t shouting. Apparently, after having someone in the house who didn’t get up as soon as humanly possible, he learned to keep the volume under control some. 

“Hardly,” Max said, grumbling. 

David just smiled, setting down a mug in front of him and taking a seat.

“You still drink coffee?”

“You drink coffee?” Max asked, nodding to the mug David was holding as he took his own.

“No, it’s tea,” David said, and Max snorted because of course it was. “Jasper drinks coffee when he first wakes up, though.”

Max nodded, and the silence stretched between them pretty comfortably. Max looked down at his phone and couldn’t help a smile at all the messages.

Turns out Nikki and Neil lived closed by. Or, at least Nerris did. And Nikki visited Nerris often, as they’d started dating nearly a year ago. So, the plan they seemed to make while Max had been enjoying coffee and quiet was that they’d all meet up at Nerris’. Thank god Neil’s dad decided to stay with Nikki’s mom.

Harrison came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes, and Max turned towards him.

“You wanna go to Nerris’? Neil and Nikki are going to be there, and it’s been a while. For me anyways, since I guess you see them a lot, but-“

“You talk a lot,” Harrison said, laughing a little when David gave him an honest-to-god dad look. “Yeah, I’m sure that we could work that out. Mind if Preston comes- wait, that’s stupid, Preston and Nerris are better friends than we are, of course I’m bringing Preston.”

“Good ol’ fashion meet up,” Max said, giving a nod. “He gonna drive us again?”

“Yeah,” Harrison said, grabbing something to drink before sitting down. “This all sound okay?”

Max raised an eyebrow before he realized Harrison wasn’t talking to him. David just waved it off though, nodding. 

“That sounds great. You two have a good time. Give me a call if you’re going to be back later than dinner?”

“Of course,” Harrison said and it sounded like something that happened a lot. 

Max didn’t say anything after that, just spent some time texting Nikki and Neil while David and Harrison caught up. He said a few words to Jasper when he came back in, and he laughed at the stupid outdated lingo he used to make the others smile and it felt…

Anyways. An hour later they were off with all sorts of fanfare and “be safes” and “have fun”s. It was worse when they got to Preston’s and he said goodbye to his gran gran. Mostly because Preston was overdramatic and had to say everything about a million times for her to hear.

The ride over was bearable. Preston was really good about talking shit to get Max caught up on the behind-the-scenes things he missed that Nikki and Neil hadn't filled him in on, and Harrison spent the whole time trying to backpeddle for his boyfriend. The whole thing was stupid and Max found he didn’t hate spending time around them. 

When they finally got there, he felt like he couldn’t really breathe. There they were. Shit, they were right there, the people he hadn’t seen for six fucking years. Neil came over as soon as he was out of the car and punched his arm. Nikki then pulled them both into a hug, and he’d missed them so damn much. So much had changed and he hadn’t seen them in forever and everyone else at his school sucked. 

“It’s been so long!” Nikki said, and Max had to look up at her. 

She’d gotten taller, though she still had the same mischievous outlook. Honestly, she was a firecracker and he liked that about her. Neil had gotten even nerdier, if that was possible, but he was a good sense of calm between the two. Probably the reason neither of them were in jail yet.

Nerris came over and while Max had only really heard talk about her, not actually talked to her, he still found he kind of missed her too. He missed having /friends/. Nerris grabbed Preston and Harrison in a hug, and it seemed those three were a trio in themselves. She grabbed Nikki’s hand to start pulling people in after that.

“Come on! I have everything set up. No better way to catch up than a campaign!”

Harrison groaned, walking in last with Max who hung back some to just take in the moment. 

“God, you’re all such fucking nerds,” he finally said, and he was met with eyerolls and another punch to the arm and a lot of smiles.


	6. Chapter 6

Max would say he didn’t even remember how much he missed these nerds, but that’d be a complete lie. It’s not like he thought about them too often, with everything else going on in his life, but there was definitely a special place in his heart for Camp Camp and the people he went there with. He was sure at this point that they’d had all changed and moved on, besides Nikki and Neil. 

In some ways, they had. They had all grown and matured and changed from when they were kids. But there was a lot that didn’t change, and the familiarity, just like in David’s house, was comforting. Nerris was still just as excited about roleplaying and getting lost in the campaigns she made, which were obviously the best, but now she was more…not subtle, not malicious. Just more cunning about it, he guessed. 

They made their characters and started and Max was surprised at the level of detail that went into the monsters and towns they encountered, how they worked in with the character backgrounds and their abilities and how they had to come up with some quick fucking ideas to get around some things. Max knew for a fact that a lot of it was bullshit, but Nerris was so excited every time they managed to trick one of the NPCs.

A great thing about playing was getting to zone out and be someone else for a while, reconnect with people while not actually having to make small talk about your lives for real. The bad part was working out issues by battling monsters with other people meant everyone else knew there was something else there too.

They took a break after a while for lunch. This wasn’t a long campaign, meant for a night, but Harrison went ahead and texted David and Jasper that they probably wouldn’t be there for dinner anyways. Max got a feeling that his little meet up wasn’t going to end when they finally defeated the big bad.

 

“So, how’d you end up around here?” Nerris finally asked while they were eating lunch. 

Harrison knew the most about his shitty situation, though Nikki and Neil knew a lot. Still, the distance had helped Max hide a lot of it. Preston had talked with him for quite a while when he’d first got here looking like he’d gone through hell itself, so he was pretty much in the loop. The only one out here was Nerris, and Max sighed because he knew the girl probably wouldn’t let him give the sparknotes version when everyone else had gotten all those sweet details of Max’s Personal Tragic Backstory Volume 1.

“Ran away from home. Well, kind of. I guess I just sort of left. Running away implied someone’s looking for you, I think. And I wasn’t about to go jogging with the huge ass backpack they make us carry around. It was the last day of school and instead of going home, I just…didn’t. Ended up here, ran into Harrison and Preston, and I’ve been crashing at his place since.”

Max didn’t expect much of a reaction from it besides a nod or some weirdly sympathetic glances. People didn’t know how to handle things like this. They couldn’t fix it immediately and they couldn’t really empathize, because right now they all at least had a steady roof over their heads. Not that Max wished they didn’t, it just. Well, no one really understood. And wasn’t that just the most fucking cliché bullshit ever, but if he was going full angsty teen story here he might as well go all out, right?

Nerris surprised him by just taking another bite of her sandwich and nodding.

“That fucking sucks.”

For some reason, he was expecting her to tell him to talk it out, or ask why he was running away or, well. Something. Maybe make a fuss of it. But there were just sort of general nods all around the table. 

“It really does. I have a little sister now.”

“Yeah? What’s her name?”

“Madeline. Guess my parents went for that whole “M” motif. I thought I’d be helping her, but it turns out my parents can actually do their fucking jobs when there’s a kid they like involved.”

Max doesn’t know what compelled him to keep talking. Maybe it was the way none of them tried to pull that whole “you’re just jealous of the baby” bit that the school counselors had. They just listened and told him it was shitty and let him talk. It wasn’t until Harrison put his hand on his should and Neil leaned against his other side some that he realized he started crying somewhat along the way. 

Was this a breakdown? He thinks this might be technically counted as a breakdown. And let it be known right now, on the record for the entire world that Max fucking hated crying in front of people. It was embarrassing and usually uncalled for and just made a mess of everything.

Keeping with surprising him, though, they just passed him a few more tissues, trash talked his parents with him and cooed at a picture of baby Madeline Max finally pulled out at the end. Then they went back to finish off the evil sorcerer who was keeping the land’s most talented mage captive until their little team of rag tag heroes could come save her.

Harrison groaned once they found out the whole plot, making some comments about how this is why he doesn’t join, but it seemed the teasing was all in good fun nowadays rather than when they might have actually killed each other years ago.

Eventually, the night came to an end. They defeated the evil mage, and some pizza rolls for dinner, and sat around laughing at shitty vine compilation videos because there was no way in hell they’d end up agreeing on an actual movie or TV show to put on. All in all, it was a good night. Nerris gave him a hug before he left.

“It’s really good to see you again. And you round out the party nicely! Having a lawful chaotic sort of even things out,” she said, though she was squeezing him a little tight for just being happy that her players had someone else now. Then again, it was Nerris, she was excited about so much.

Max actually hugged her back, though, patting her back after she didn’t let go for too long. She laughed as they finally parted, and Max felt a little lighter. Actually having friends was nice.

“Don’t you dare leave without coming to visit us again,” Neil threatened as he said his goodbyes, having to practically drag a whining Nikki away from her girlfriend and back to the car. “Seriously, it’s been way too long and it’s boring without you here.”

“Fine, geez, if it’ll get you off my back,” Max finally agreed, hands up in the air as if he was surrendering. 

On the drive back home, Max took from seat, talking to Preston as he drove while Harrison slept in the back. He was tired, and he apparently didn’t help Preston calm down when he had to drive home in the dark. Max hadn’t been taught to drive yet, but he was pretty good at making sure Preston didn’t crash them into something. It probably also helped that he was being extra careful not to scream and wake his boyfriend up, though Max is pretty sure he saw Harrison jump a few times Preston got a little too loud before nodding back off.

When they finally, finally got back, Max headed to the door as Harrison said his sleepy goodbyes to the other boy. They got in, and Max froze when he saw the sight. David and Jasper were still up, sitting in the living room. It wasn’t terribly late, so it wasn’t really surprising, but they weren’t watching anything. They were sitting, talking, and both turned to look at the two boys as they entered. Max felt pretty freaked out, because he was absolutely sure in that moment that they were about to kick him out. Good luck, nice seeing you again, get the fuck out of our house.

Harrison was the one that pushed him in further, though, apparently wanting to get to bed. He didn’t seem surprised at the sight in front of him, and Max puts together that Harrison probably kept getting on his phone today to talk to the two adults, not just some other friends or something.

“Max, if you’d take a seat,” David said, motioning to chair by the couch they were seated on. Max hesitated, but did as he was asked. Harrison leaned against the armrest instead of sitting by his parents, and for that Max was eternally grateful.

“So, considering everything that’s been going on, Jasper and I have been talking, and…well, it doesn’t seem like you’re in a very good position at home. And you’ll only be there for two more years, so it’s completely up to you, and we know you’re already sixteen, but-“

“David?”

“What he’s trying to say is that if you want to stay here instead of going back home, we’d be more than happy to take you in. We can call and set something up with your parents if you’d like, because it seems like being here around friends might be better for you than that…situation. And it doesn’t seem like they’re too keen on havin’ you there, since they haven’t called yet, so. No choices need to be made today, obviously,” Jasper said, stepping in when his husband rambled on. And while Max appreciated that he got to the point faster, he was also rambling on now.

“Yes.”

“What?”

Harrison laughed at Max’s quick answer, and Max shoved the other because this asshole probably knew this was coming all day.

“I mean, yeah. My parents don’t give a shit, and if they aren’t going to make an effort, it’d be nice to stay somewhere were someone gives half a shit.”

“We don’t want to pressure you or anything, even if you just want to be here for a while, you could still go back and-“

“David, come on. I’m not wanted. And I think I’ll end up pissed you guys off at some point, but at least Jasper cooks better than what I got back home, so.”

And that, it seemed, was that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time. My only excuses are normal things like life. Anyways, here's the rest of the story! I hope you enjoy! And, as always, feel free to come bug me over at notinthere.tumblr.com !

There was an office that Jasper used for a lot of his work that they planned on cleaning out for Max. His parents still hadn’t made any calls, so Jasper and David were going to wait for the weekend to contact Max’s folks about keeping their son.

Max was digging this whole long-term idea. It was still super shaky and he wasn’t sure how the hell it was all going to work out, but hell, it was worth a shot. Even if nothing came out of it, he can say he tried.

It was when preparations to move everything out were actually being made that it finally dawned on Jasper. The two had been sharing Harrison’s room for a while. They’d gotten a second bed and shoved it in there, with plenty of rearranging. They couldn’t let Max stay on the floor, and the twin bed pushed up against the other wall wasn’t much, but it was a start if he was going to be living here.

He could hear the two talk late into the wee hours of the morning some nights and be snoring in bed by ten on others. They seemed to actually enjoy sharing a space. And it wasn’t as if either realty spent a lot of time in the bedroom beyond, well, sleeping. Harrison was usually out and about, and when he wanted to come home and relax, he usually did so in the living room and Max had followed his trend. Apparently hiding in your bedroom for years made the rest of the house seem pretty appealing when you could actually venture out. 

“…did you two want to keep sharing a room? It’s fine if you don’t, but I figured I should ask before I lug this huge desk out.”

Both boys shrugged and made non-comitial noises, but eventually seemed to agree that sharing a room wouldn’t be the absolute worst, and Max’s bed was already in there and there was plenty of space to just shove in another dresser, and Max could always move out later if things didn’t work out. 

So, with a lot of work saved, that was that.

What was not figured out already, however, was how this would play out. Max had tried really hard not to get his hopes up, figuring that that would be the easiest way to disappoint himself. But he’d settled in fairly quickly to the new home. He’d joined them for movie night, toughed it out with Harrison when it was David’s night to cook, gotten used to checking in with the two when they were gone for long periods of time. They weren’t the clingy sort of people who needed to know every move you made and when you were leaving and arriving at some place, but Harrison usually gave them a heads up where they’d be heading and when they’d be back, and he’d shoot them a text when things got off schedule- which they usually did, between Max and Preston.

Speaking of, hanging out with Preston turned out to be pretty cool. He hadn’t really calmed down any, just as passionate, but he knew how to channel it better. He was the go to guy to figure out all the scoops of what’d happened behind the scenes. 

David had apparently had lunch with Nurf and Nurf’s mom about a year ago. She’d gotten and stayed out of prison, and Nurf was heading off to college- on a full scholarship. Turns out his grades were pretty stellar and plenty of places had accepted his application into their psychology programs. 

“Aunt Gwen”, as Harrison referred to her as, had landed a high-paying job not long after their stint at the camp together. She still came and visited, and joined them for holidays when her own parents were too much. Her and David were best friends, and she got along great with Jasper, who shared her same distain for the camp.

Speaking of, David apparently owned the joint now. He’d stepped down as counselor, having a lot of behind-the-scenes work to do, but he’d apparently been the mentor that he’d always hoped Mr. Campbell would be. They had plenty of counselors come in and out, though, and Harrison seemed to be thinking about taking up the position himself next year. 

Neil (space kid Neil, of course) apparently went to the same high school. His uncle was the one to pick him up and drop him off from activities, and it was pretty easy to assume he lived with him now, which seemed to be good for everyone. Facebook told him that Dolph was living with his mom (just his mom) and was being scouted by some fancy art schools in Europe. 

Ered had graduated a few years back, and Nikki was proud to report that they were actually friends and hung out when she was back. College wasn’t a priority right now, but travelling and selling her custom-made skateboards was. 

Which pretty much caught him up on everything he’s missed, he thinks. Well, almost. He can only sit through so many life stories before he has to change the topic to something more, well. Recent. 

Recent, of course, being that if this whole thing went through and he actually would be staying with David’s family like, permanently, he was facing a whole new issue. 

He’d technically sort of kind of have a brother.

Which threw him through a loop. Madeline was easy to be a brother too- she was a baby. As far as that went, all he really had to do was make sure he didn’t warm up her bottle too hot when it was his turn to keep an eye on her. 

Harrison was another issue. He was really kind of great at making sure Max’s late night taking didn’t spiral into some issue of him questioning whether this was a good idea or if it’d last or if he’d just been blowing things out of proportion. And he wanted to kind of maybe do the same to him? Just like, be a decent person. But he was hardly a good friend, much less family-type member. 

So, he called Neil. Neil was technically a brother, right? Right. The call didn’t end up amounting to much, really, but it was more than Max had to go off of before that. It seemed to boil down to “don’t be a dick”, which seemed simple enough. 

Still, nothing was concrete yet. Or, it wasn’t until that weekend was over, and the call was made. Max sat right in the kitchen as Jasper spoke to his mom. David was right beside him, but he knew he’d either ramble too much or blow up at the woman, so Jasper was charged with actually talking to his parents. 

Max expected there to be some yelling or shouting from one end or the other. Instead, it was just…civil. Weirdly civil. 

Turns out, his parents were on board for something they thought might be best for “Their Max”. Max was calling bullshit and saying that his parents were willing to pawn him off on strangers the second that they could get the trouble child out of their lives, but whatever. No legal action was being made yet, not until later. There’d have to be something to make sure that Max could enroll in high school over here now, but that’d be done when that was done. Right now, all he knew was that this was going to be alright, at least for now.

He expected things to change for some reason. For this to be some huge big thing that would shift everything. But, well. That part had already happened when he recognized Harrison. Now, this was just another step. Maybe he just couldn’t believe it yet, though.

He was kept up at night with thoughts like that. What did this mean? Was his new school going to be okay? Was this new family really as great as they seemed to be? Harrison certainly said they were, but was he just lying? Shit, how was he going to get his stuff? And he…kind of missed Madeline. Would she even remember him, if he never came back? Probably not, she was so young. 

“So, I guess we’re officially brothers now, huh?”

It was Harrison that spoke from his bed, causing Max to turn to look at him better. 

“I guess so. Now I have a brother and a sister, huh?”

“Well, two brothers.”

Right. Right, shit, how did Max keep forgetting? Harrison had this nightly ritual, disappearing some snack and a little letter, probably to his brother, Max had pieced together. He didn’t know how to go about this, didn’t want to fuck things up. He wasn’t sure he should even say anything, but the silence didn’t feel right to just leave hanging.

“Right, of course. So, uh. Tell me about him?”

He wasn’t sure Harrison would even want to talk, but it turns out that was sort of the right answer, apparently. It didn’t really even take any more than that and Harrison was already going on about him. It was a little sad at first, listening to Harrison talk about this kid who’d been gone for years, but then he realized that Harrison didn’t really seem that sad to be talking about him.

Sad about the situation? Sure. But actually talking about his brother seemed fine. Eventually, Max even joined in. He was kind of upset that Madeline might not ever really know him, but he was fine with going on about the girl herself. She was a pretty cool baby, all things considered. At the end of the night, Harrison was crying a little and trying to hide it, mostly with a comedic line of hankies he kept pulling out, all tied to another.


	8. Chapter 8

David had promised to drive him to his parent’s to get his shit. Jasper had offered as well, honestly, but David’s work was mostly during the summer and Jasper had a bunch of deadlines to hit- he was a freelance graphic designer with apparently a pretty good customer base. David just owned and ran the camp, though apparently he did programs with local schools during the school year. While it took plenty to keep the camp running, he did most of the work from home and went out to visit as often as he could. This was a little bit of a special situation, what with taking in a whole other kid, but the current counselors assured him everything was fine. Gwen even took a week off to step in and make sure things were going smoothly- mostly so David wouldn’t panic when he already had so much going on. 

Max didn’t wake up to David telling him it was time to go, though. No, he woke up to an empty room and a car horn blaring that was definitely not the hybrid David drove, or the little VW bug Jasper had. No, there was a huge ass van outside with Nerris sticking her head out of the driver’s side window and yelling him to get his butt down there.

Max got shoved into the middle of the middle row when he finally got out there, having to direct Nerris to where exactly his house was. He made it plenty clear many times as he was smooshed between Harrison and Neil that he could have directed her way better from the front seat, but Nikki happily informed him of her long-standing exclusive rights to shot gun. 

Preston mostly took a bunch of pictures and laughed at the crowded bunch from where he was enjoying the entire back row- all three seats back where they could have dispersed people, but no.

His parents refused to drop off his stuff, and he knew very well that they’d both be at work at the time they told David he could bring Max to get his shit. So, since they didn’t care enough to show up, the plan was apparently “bring the whole gang to grab all of Max’s shit and egg the house”.

Not exactly their smartest idea, but it’d be fun, at least.

It didn’t take long for six kids to pull out what little belongings Max had, and Nikki had very happily brought out the two dozen eggs she’d brought over for them to leave their final touches on the place Max was hoping to leave behind.

His own final touch was leaving Mr. Honeynuts in Madeline’s bed for her.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell about Camp Camp with me over at notinthere.tumblr.com . I draw things and take requests both here and there.


End file.
